Laura's Big Win (7 page)

Although a part timer, Dennis
frequently stayed at Windmere in carriage house quarters when an
event required drivers to be available on a moment’s notice; as
often as not, he was the driver who made the late night, very
secretive airport runs to deliver clients. He remembered well the
aging rock star who was having a very public fight in the press
with his own family, but who had his family flown into Windmere so
he could secretly visit with them away from the media. The only
real issue he had with the job was the down time between runs or
other activities, so he found something to keep busy and pass the
time when needed. As it happened, Mrs. Hamilton found Dennis one
day idly weeding a flower bed in need of attention, something he
enjoyed doing. Commenting on his interest, she was politely
informed the beds needed much more than weeding, and was treated to
a recitation on soil conditioners and what could be done with a
little proper care. On her recommendation, Dennis Anderson suddenly
found himself chief groundskeeper, a full time position that
included caring for the nine hole private golf course on the
grounds; that sent him back to the books, but it was truly a labor
of love. He retained his position as a driver and security icon,
and for the first time in a long time, Dennis Anderson was secure
and content. On the other hand, while he was indeed grateful to
Mrs. Hamilton for her recommendation, he was not so grateful as to
willingly lose to her during staff poker games. And so it was, when
she called, he hauled.

Once Dennis was in the Great Room, she
held what could be considered as a mission briefing, explaining
their directive, and telling him what she had seen going on at the
shelter: that they were to pick up three people and bring them to
Windmere, with little fanfare, or lost time. The other thing was
that they were to find someone who could repair the air
conditioning at the shelter, regardless of the time of night;
Dennis assured them he would tell his roomie Franz the problem as
soon as they were rolling. Franz would know what to do about the
A/C and would communicate with Ryan on that issue.

“Two of them are small children. Do we
have any car seats Dennis?” She was not about transport young
children without the proper equipment, no matter how badly they
might need transported. Alice Hamilton might be on a mission, but
that would not keep her from doing things right.

“Yes, ma’am; we have the ones we used
last year when the rocker flew his family in. Should work for these
kids; actually, I have two sizes, so I’ll load up one of each.” And
off went Dennis to load in the seats and bring their mission
vehicle around to the front door. Although he knew little about
what was going on, somehow he got the impression this was a good
thing they were about to do, even if no one, including Alice
Hamilton, seemed to know exactly why they were doing it. That, of
course, was not his problem.

Within minutes, Dennis and Alice were
rolling along in the huge SUV. Designed to transport persons who
cherished their privacy, and to provide security during the ride,
Dennis truly loved the vehicle that was much like him in many ways.
It had a quiet strength powered by the huge block engine that
loafed at interstate speeds. And, while it was a luxury ride, it
could also go cross country with ease and out sprint anything in
its weight class. The basic unit had been fitted by a security
design firm with full electronics, DVD player with drop down
screens, complete sound system, GPS, cell relay, even a fax
machine, not to mention back-up equipment. Gloss black, the machine
had very little chrome detail, with the exception of the two large,
chromed exhaust extensions jutting out from under the bumper. If
nothing else, its very appearance was intimidating, a fact not lost
on the designers. In the near dark it was virtually invisible save
for the Xenon headlamps that pierced the night air.

They arrived at the shelter quickly and
Dennis maneuvered the heavy iron into an unoccupied loading zone.
Together they entered the facility through the throng of people
trying to cool off in the evening breeze and located the night
supervisor. Alice explained their two fold mission to the
supervisor, indicating that the super could call anyone she liked
to check on their authenticity. First, Alice explained, her
employer would pay to have the A/C unit repaired, and was at this
moment looking for a repairman to make the service call (at a
nighttime rate of double time no less). Secondly, they wanted to
meet the tall woman with two small children, someone they believed
to be in her early thirties.

“They’re in the rec room. The bunk
rooms aren’t habitable with all this heat. I’ll take you to them.”
And while she communicated with Alice Hamilton, Angie Costello’s
eyes were on Dennis Anderson, with as much interest as fascination
at being near someone that large who appeared to be every bit the
boy scout at the moment.

Laura looked up as the night super
approached with Alice and Dennis, an unlikely duo, in tow.
Apprehensive at this turn of events, she rose to meet them,
shushing Jack and Amanda. Jack scrambled to his feet and got in
front of his mother, prepared to defend his family, even against
this man who cast such a large shadow if need be. Alice introduced
herself and Dennis, assuring Laura there was no problem, just an
opportunity. Without directly mentioning Ryan, she outlined their
offer: shelter for a couple of nights for Laura and her children.
In the morning they would discuss the future since, as Alice noted,
“You’re in a homeless shelter and appear to be in some need of
assistance. We are promising a safe comfortable place to stay, a
respite if you will, for the next few days. What may develop we
will discuss tomorrow when you are rested. Besides, this is a
little outside my normal office hours. I would like to point out,
in case you were wondering, that this is not a charitable act in
particular. I was given specific instructions to contact you, but
not the reason why. I am just as unclear as to the reason we were
sent as you are at this point, but I can assure you this is a valid
offer. I can give you a few moments to consider our offer if you
wish, but either way, I would like a decision in the next few
moments.”

How could Laura refuse? Her children
were in need. Still, how could this be happening after all that had
gone wrong in the past couple of days? Excusing herself, she took
aside the night supervisor, who was totally bemused by these people
and what they were offering. “I don’t know these people, and we’re
already pretty bad off in many ways; I don’t want to make things
worse. What do you think about all this? What should I
do?”

“I can’t tell you what to do and take
that sort of responsibility, but I will tell you this. I would pay
a lot of money just to see the inside of Windmere, and I can tell
you, from everything I have heard, the company is a class act to
work for. Getting on staff out there is tough. I know a couple of
people who work there from time to time; they won’t mention any
names, but they say it is a top dollar operation, really high end,
if you know what I mean; nothing but the up and up. I don’t know
about the woman, but I’ve seen the big guy around; he seems to have
a good reputation. My guess? I think this offer is good, and they
promised to fix the a/c whether you go with them or not, so either
way the shelter wins. I don’t know what you’ve got, honey, but
somebody saw something; I’d cash that check while I
could.”

Laura reasoned that things couldn’t get
much worse since they were already homeless and virtually
penniless. Facing Mrs. Hamilton, Laura agreed, but agonized in her
mind about the decision. After all, her last major decision of any
sort had been to marry Richard and she was living with the
consequences of that error. The only good thing to come out of that
decision was her two wonderful children, whom she would protect at
all cost. She told the children they would be staying somewhere
else for the night, to gather up their few things, then reached for
the duffle bag that contained the remnants of their previous life.
To her surprise a huge hand was already on the handle of the
bag.

“Sorry ma’am, but carrying the bags is
part of my job along with driving, and besides” nodding toward Mrs.
Hamilton, “I owe her one.”

Grateful for the help with the heavy
bag, Laura noted that the big man with the soft voice didn’t even
seem to notice the weight as he lifted the bag, more like it was a
pillow full of feathers with no weight at all, just a smooth,
powerful flex. She wondered at the time what else he did for the
company, bouncer maybe, but for the moment just following in his
wake was enough of a task.

As the small procession started to make
its way out of the rec. room to the waiting SUV, something happened
to Dennis that he would never forget, and that would win Amanda a
gentle giant for a protector all the remaining days of his life.
Her little four years old hand reached up and grasped one of his
thick fingers, an entire handful for her, and as he glanced down at
the touch, she looked up at him with wide open eyes and an
expression of trust and confidence. The pang of compassion that
shot through Dennis’s heart nearly brought him to a halt. Releasing
the bag for a moment, he reached down and scooped the little girl
up, setting her on his wide forearm where she was clear of the
crowd, and where she could literally see over the top of everyone
in the room. “Now,” he said “You can see better and we won’t lose
you in the crowd.” But as he retrieved the duffle and started for
the door again, the tears in his own eyes made seeing difficult.
The act did not go without notice from Laura, whose own heart
stopped for a beat when she saw the big man first reach for her
comparatively tiny daughter. It was an act of kindness that,
reasonable explanation or not, said these people, if nothing else,
loved small children. And with that, the shelter was behind
them.

Jack’s eyes widened at the big SUV.
Like many small boys, he was fascinated by anything automotive, and
while his 5 year old mind couldn’t grasp all of the significant
details, it was perfectly clear to him that this was a much better
ride than the long bus trip. As the side door powered open, Laura
was surprised to see the car seats already in place, somehow not
what she had envisioned in a vehicle like this. Clearly, this was
not the average family sedan, but that fact was lost on the kids as
they climbed into seats, ready for launch. At a quick glance, Laura
estimated it would hold eight adults comfortably, plus luggage and
probably a couple sets of golf clubs as well, but if nothing else,
Dennis seemed quite at home in it. Sensing her curiosity, Alice
said: “We don’t usually have the car seats in this unit because
it’s so high up off the ground for the kids to climb into, but we
do keep them available; some clients bring their kids, and we knew
we would need them tonight. Dennis picked this vehicle for the run;
I think maybe it’s his favorite, and since he volunteered, I had to
overlook the poor gas mileage it gets. I should tell you that you
made the local evening news television. That’s how all this got
started, but, again, my orders were just to get you out of the
shelter if you wanted to come with us. I think you will find it was
a good decision, although we’ll know better in the morning. Anyway,
you’ll have a good night’s sleep, so it can’t be all
bad.”

Dennis expertly powered into the
traffic stream, but the sight of a familiar landmark logo ahead
prompted him to ask if anyone was hungry. Laura was a little
embarrassed at the “Yes, Sir” chorus that rang out, although she
knew their last meal on limited funds had been somewhat marginal
for growing children. She had rather counted on Nancy’s generosity,
and while the shelter fed them, they were close to the end of their
available finances and were making do as best they could. Dennis
glanced over at Alice, who simply nodded in agreement with his
decision. Laura, swallowing hard, had to stop this before it went
too far; she simply didn’t have any funds left. But as she started
to speak with a tremor in her voice, Alice sensed the problem and
cut her off: “Courtesy of Windmere. Consider it to be a part of our
client hospitality greeting package. Besides, I think Dennis just
volunteered to buy, since he’ll probably stick the company for
overtime anyway. Not that I’ll authorize it.”

“Thank you” was all Laura could muster
at the moment. These people really did seem to understand the dire
nature of her situation, and apparently really were there to help
her.

Kids meals distributed to eager hands,
Dennis also ordered extra of the large chocolate chip cookies, for
“emergency uses” as he explained it. And not to be out eaten by two
small children, he also ordered the extra size triple burger and
made it invisible in about four bites. The ladies, ostensibly more
delicate in nature than the former footballer, went for the high
end salad combo’s, but didn’t hold back much on utensil speed. In
her distress, Laura had not realized how very hungry she had
become.

Later on, while Laura and Alice were
relaxing for a moment, Jack and Amanda were taking turns trying to
fly in the play area. Climbing on whatever they could find, they
burned off significant energy by hurling themselves into the air,
to be caught in mid-flight by the waiting Dennis. Twenty minutes of
that and Mrs. Hamilton thought they were probably depressurized
enough to continue their journey

It was fully dark out now and Laura
couldn’t make out very much along the side of the road, but it did
appear the houses were farther apart now, more of a rural area. Her
apprehension was just beginning to nip at her a little again when
they came to a driveway blocked by an impressive iron gate. The
word “Windmere” in gold letters stood out in the headlights, but
one touch of a remote in the SUV and the gate slid silently back,
reclosing smoothly behind them as they entered. Laura recalled the
words of the administrator at the shelter: ‘I would pay a lot of
money just to see the inside of Windmere’. Well, they were in, she
thought to herself, but she still didn’t know much about these
people and what the morning would bring. Still, she and her
children were out of the shelter, well fed, now behind a large
security gate, and in a vehicle that could probably stop bullets.
Indeed, the SUV could stop bullets if need arose.